Category: Dynamics AX

Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are software programs that are used to control and track production processes in manufacturing environments. The MES software sits above the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), PLCs (programmable logic controller) and sensors on the production equipment, and is thus specifically designed to receive information from these machines. These systems often house data that is very valuable to pass on to an ERP system.

At Tridea, we have encountered numerous MES systems, including Inductive Automation’s Ignition, Wonderware, and Rockwell Automation. Our clients frequently capture in their MES systems such things as quality data related to production batches, quantities of raw materials issued to production orders, and quantities of finished product reported as finished on production orders. In many cases, this data flows electronically from the production equipment to the MES system, with no human intervention. An obvious next step is to pass that information on to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Whereas with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 we typically used middleware such as SQL programs and tables to pass this information between the MES system and Dynamics AX, we are now using web services for the communication with D365. Some examples of integrations that we have built to MES systems include updates to production order statuses, recording consumption of raw materials (picklist journals) on production orders, recording report as finished journals on production orders, and updating of batch attributes. In addition to saving the time of having to manually record this data, there is a significant improvement in the accuracy of the data when it flows directly from the machinery that is performing the work or from sensors that read the data pertaining to quantity updates and / or batch attributes. One of the nice aspects of these types of integrations is that they are very repeatable, and thus become a very cost-effective solution for clients.

Have you ever had to compare data for several companies in Microsoft Dynamics AX?

That is usually not a problem to change the company you are currently attached to. You just double-click the company on the bottom of your current work space, and change it.

This becomes more of a challenge when dealing with more than a handful of companies.

That is where the crossCompany and changeCompany keywords can be helpful.

The table DataArea stores the company Id for all companies configured in your environment. Using the crossCompany keyword, you can construct a query to retrieve all records, regardless of the company you are currently logged into. This example loops through all of the companies in the table DataArea, then calls a routine to do some work in that company.

whileselectcrossCompany * from dataArea

{

info (strFmt(“%1 %2”

, dataArea.Id

, dataArea.name

));

showCompany(dataArea.Id);

}

In this example, I just want to know how many customer records exist in each company. This routine will use the changeCompany keyword to define the scope of work. Using this, I can run one job to interrogate all companies that are set up, or you can manually change companies and run the query in each company. You decide which is more efficient.

In 2013, University of Colorado Medicine first engaged Tridea Partners to complete a rapid deployment of Microsoft Dynamics AX and simplify the delivery of financial reports, at the same time improving service levels for thousands of subscribers by providing more timely reporting with the details and in the formats they require. Today, Tridea continues to support the company’s ERP environment. “We can truly count on Tridea as our partner. They resolve issues promptly, respond quickly to everything we ask for, and are enjoyable to work with. Because they empower us to use our own skills more effectively, we accomplish better outcomes with less effort.”Rick Schwartz, PMP, Senior Project Manager, University of Colorado Medicine.

Yet again, the discrete manufacturing industry is under pressure. With increased competition and a more demanding customer base forcing many manufacturers to look for new ways to increase their bottom line, it’s no surprise asset life extension is a popular topic.

Manufacturers can enhance their success by creating a proactive asset management culture, taking a more sophisticated approach to maintenance that optimizes asset performance and value. This is crucial for businesses to ensure that they can meet demand and reduce production costs.

Below are 5 common scenarios found in many discrete manufacturing organizations where maximizing the use of assets is a difficulty.

1. Reactive maintenance
Reactive maintenance is characterized by poor equipment performance, unpredictable breakdowns and ongoing minor plant stoppages. The poor condition of the equipment results in quality defects and stoppages, which in turn leads to unexpected production losses and overspend of the maintenance budget. Together, these can cause deficits that run into millions.

2. No proactive maintenance
When very little or no proactive maintenance exists, a “fire fighting” maintenance regime results, whereby temporary repairs or “band-aid” solutions are regularly applied to keep the equipment running.

3. Limited planning and scheduling
When planning and scheduling is reactive, it is often the planned activities that get dropped from the daily work schedule. Proactive strategies seem to be of little value to an organization struggling to meet the pressure to keep the plant running. It is hard to move into “asset management” mode and accurate equipment history is often not available.

4. Maintenance vs production mentality
When maintenance and production teams aren’t working together – or, worse, are in conflict – then any impetus for positive change soon dries up. Maintenance personnel are blamed for failures, morale is low and staff are too busy fixing things to conduct any inspections or preventative maintenance.

5. Lack of support
To improve asset performance, you need the strong support of leadership and management teams in order to stop the fire fighting and target long-term sustainable asset management. The journey must start at the top of the organization.

Good leadership is critical to the team’s overall success. Your leader should be able to articulate the common sense of purpose, and unite all members of the team so that you are working towards this purpose. The asset management team should be seen as a force to be reckoned with, yet should remain approachable and open. All site employees should be aware of the team’s existence and know how to contact them with any ongoing plant issues or frustrations.

How to successfully maximize the use of assets
The goal in improving asset performance is simple. To enhance the overall operations of the plant or facility and improve business performance.
More specifically, there are three key success factors for any asset improvement program:

Loss elimination
This involves tracking production losses and assets with high maintenance costs, and then finding ways to reduce those losses or high costs. Efforts should be focused on the largest and most critical opportunities.

Life cycle asset management
Studies show that as much as 95% of the total life cycle cost (LCC) of an asset is determined before it is put into use. With this in mind, the Reliability Engineer (if you have someone in this role) should be involved in the design and installation stages for new assets and modification of existing assets.

The discrete manufacturing series
Our series focuses on five common problems discrete manufacturers are currently facing, and how to solve them, including case study examples of where discrete manufacturers have implemented our solutions and seen success.